Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

Dionysos displaced by Apollon 243
true precursor of the oktaeteris'^, we are bound to admit that at
Delphoi the cult of Dionysos was regulated by a more primitive
calendar than the cult of Apollon ; and it becomes at least reason-
able^ to suppose that Dionysos was first in the field.
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Dionysos displaced by Apollon at Delphoi.
With the advent of Apollon Dionysos suffered a partial, but
never a total, eclipse. In addition to his winter season he was
invoked by Philodamos, the Locrian author of a Delphic paidn
(335—334 B.C.), to come '
in the holy time of spring^' and even in
the summer month Apellaios he received {c. 400 B.C.) a sacrifice
[60€;'] (del. C. Manitius. Petaviuscj.ei'TeO^ei'. et quia inve7iiebant illud diversutn veritati...,
quaesivei'tmt aliqiiid, quo versio Latina ex Arabico sermone conversa s. xii) e^rjTovv
wepLodov, riTis Kara fx^v tovs eviavTovs Tip 7;\ty crviJ.(pwvr]cr(L, Kara Se tovs /XTJfas /cat ras -r^fjiipas
rrj aekiivri, k.t.X., Censorin. de die nat. 18. 2 veteres in Graecia civitates cum animadver-
terent, dum sol annuo cursu orbem suum ciicumit, lunam novam interdum tridecies
(terdecies vulg.) exoriri idque sjepe alternis fieri, arbitrati sunt lunares duodecim menses et
dimidiatum ad annum naturalem convenire. itaque annos civiles sic statuerunt, ut intercalando
faceient alternos duodecim mensium, alternos tredecim, utrumque annum
separalim vertentem, iunctos ambo annum magnum vocantes. idque tempus trieterida
appellabant, quod tertio quoque anno intercalabatur, quamvis biennii ciicuitus et re vera
dieteris esset ; unde mysteria, quae Libero [Libera patri vulg.) alternis fiunt annis,
trieterica a poetis dicuntur. See further Hdt. i. 32, 2. 4.
^ So F. K. Ginzel Handbiich der inathematischen und techiiischen Chronologic Das
Zeitrechnungswesen der Volker Leipzig 191 1 ii. 370 ff. He points out that, since the
solar year contains 365'2422 days and the lunar year 354"367i days, a cycle of two years
containing 360 and 390 days would give no sort of approximation to natural fact. He
rightly infers that we must understand Geminos' fji-rji/ai TpiaKovdrj/x^povs as a popular
expression denoting the ordinary Greek month. But, if so, twelve months of alternately
30 and 29 days followed by thirteen months of alternately 30 and 29 days produce a
cycle of 354 + 384=738 days. This exceeds two solar years by about 7^ days—an excess
which in the course of four such cyles would amount to another month. The irieterts, in
fact, would naturally and inevitably lead on tt) the oktaeteris.
^ Not, of course, necessary. It remains possible to argue that the more primitive cult
was introduced at a later date from a less civilised region.
^ H. Weil in the Bull. Corr. Hell. 1895 xix. 393 ff., cp. W. Christ Geschichte der
griechischen Litte7-atur^ Mlinchen 191 1 ii. i. 114. The paidn was inscribed in the
archonship of Etymondas, the date of which I give after H. Pomtow in Pauly—Wissowa
Real-Enc. iv. 2589 f., 2697. Weil reconstructs the opening lines thus : [AeCp', iLva.
A]idt!'pafipe Bd/cx' I
cUpais :
I Ei;o?
f[^'f; Ovpaij^pes, /3pai-|Td, /3p6/xt(e), r]pLva[ls Uov \
Tai'cr5(e)]
hpals iv
w lb [Bd/cx' w ^e Ilaidjj'- | k.t.X., supposing an allusion to the spring festival
Theoxenia, and suggesting that PpacTcii^/paiTdi — paiTTjs {pai(>j, 'I strike'), cp. supra i.
469 n. 4, 659 f., 711 Dionysos 'AvdpunroppalcTTTjs. Miss J. E. Harrison in the Class. Rev.
1902 xvi. 332 and in her Proleg. Gk. Rel.- p. 4i6f. argued that the epithet is connected
with the late Latin braisum (Ducange Gloss, ined. et inf. Lat. s.vv. brace, braesium,
braisum), 'grain prepared for making beer.' But in the Class. Rev. 1910 xxiv. 245 she
follows W. Vollgraff, who in Mnemosyne N. S. 1905 xxxiii. 379 proposed Ki.acro'lxa.tja..
H. van Herwerden Lexicon Graecutn suppletorium et dialecticum'^ Lugduni Batavorum i.
289 observes :
' e Guil. Vollgraffio, qui lapidem vidit, audivi se pro certo tantum agnovisse
AITA, sed antecedentem litteram sibi videri fuisse X, itaque latere compositum, velut
KtcrcroxaiTa.' Thus two ingenious guesses lose their raison d'etre.
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